IK Multimedia Amplitube VST PC

Windows XP SP2 with Cubase SX3 on Quadcore Pentium. Using as VST plug-in, along with UAD studio pak, Antares Autotune, Voxengo Elephant, Soniformer and Polysuasher. 30 years of multi-trak, pop music recording. Currently recording at 24 bit, 88.1.

I'm offering a reward of $500 to anyone who can install this properly and get it to launch the first time out. You'll not only hate this plug in by the time you give up trying to figure this out, you'll hate music!

Yeah. It's OK. So what? Gets a couple of nice sounds, none of which really sound like tube gear.

Don't waste your money. Too expensive. Service model is the most cumbersome I've encountered, yet. I really wanted to rid myself of all rack gear, but these guys broke the fun meter. Can you spell class action lawsuit?

Save your money and get a tube Fender or Vox amp with a 1/4" line out jack for recording.

Gibson ES-347 into a Fulltone Supatrem then through a Marshall JCM800.

Lots of fake knobs and fancy graphics!! Doesn't make up for the laughable sound quality.

Terrible!! Who are these people deluding themselves into thinking this crap software is anywhere near an SM57 in front of a cab? This stuff is too expensive for the kiddies who wouldn't know the difference.

Crappy company, mediocre sound quality within the fake amp industry, and absolutely, spine-tingling horrific compared to a real amp. Why are people buying this garbage? The people at IK Media really suck. I'm not sure if there is a crappier company. Can you tell I feel ripped off here? Despite what the amateurs and kiddies say, stay away from this overpriced, crap software.

Crap alert!!

I've been playing guitar for 23 years. Got into recording about 6 years ago. I built a DAW three weeks ago out of an old computer and parts I picked up at a computer store. I use Qbase LE as it came bundled with the sound card. I do my main recording on a Tascam MX2424. I dump my .wav to the DAW so I can work on them at home. I have only used Amplitube since I built my DAW.

I was up and running with the whole thing in one hour. I liked the sound of Amlitube from the start. My band made some recordings at another studio (non-bias third party) and the guitars didn't sound good. I dumped the .wav to the DAW and with Amplitube in no time had them sounding almost good. Then I needed Tech Support.

I've used it to save almost all my dirty guitar tracks from the outside project my band did.

IK Multimedia has the worst Tech support I've ever come across. They make you leave a message rather than wait in a que for phone support. They've taken at least to 2 days to call me back (said they would email me the fix, I never recived it). I emailed them for help. The email support comes with single line solutins to try, and when they don't work it take 24 hours to get another single line responce. Two and a half weeks of waiting to fix one issue (registering the product), and still not solved. My advice buy somting else. This review was writen in anger.

I have been playing guitar for 28 years and recording for the last five. I am using Ampilutbe with Cubase and a Tascam US224 console, my PC is AMD Athlon 1900XP, 512M RAM, M-Audio BX8a monitors. I am primarily a blues player.

It took a while to get used to it. I bought the disc from a friend who decided to stick to mic'd guitar recordings, did not get rthe manual. I can't, I have a house full of kids and a wife who is not so tolerant of loud guitar amps. I find it pretty easy to use once I got the hang of it. I mostly use the VIP presets and dotcor them to my taste.

The sounds are pretty realistic FOR BLUES ONLY. For hard rock, this is NOT the program to use. The heavy rock disrtion sounds are dreadful. As for Texas souding blues recordings... It's pretty convincing. I just had on of my live shows recorded and there were plenty of mistakes. I was able to record a separate track sync'd with the main guitar a track, then insert silence on the main track. After tweeking levels and distortion level, it's very hard to tell that I did a psuedo punch of guitar tracks.

I paid 50$ to a friend for the program. Great deal in that respect. As before I love the blues sounds that I get but the hard rock distortion is really bad. I have had zero problems with crashes or lock ups. As with most home based computer recording, you can't really do much else with the PC while recording and mastering.

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years, bass for about that long, and mandolin for about 5 years. I gig with a bluegrass/western swing band regularly and compete in flatpicking contests regularly. I play acoustic and electric guitar, & occasionally bass, in the band at church.

I'm reviewing Amplitube SE, which came bundled with Mackie Tracktion 2. I'm using it as a plug-in in Tracktion to process dry guitar signals. Currently, I'm using it for a classic rock project.

I'm running Tracktion and Amplitude on a HP Pavilion zv5000 laptop with a 2.4 GHz Pentium III processor and 768MB of RAM. I use an Edirol USB soundcard (a UA-1EX if I remember correctly) and monitor with JBL passive monitors of decent quality. (I don't remember the model number off-hand, they ran about $450/pair.)

The interface is pretty intuitive. It's setup to mimic an amp face with a few extra and specialized switches. I find the program to be fairly easy to use overall, and have found the presets to be decent, and can be pretty good with some adjustment.

I had no problems installing the plug-in. Copy protection is somewhat irritating. YOu have to use the serial number and a digital ID number specific for your computer, log on to IK's website, and get an authorization code. Less than 5 minutes, but you have to fill out a fairly extensive survey of name/address/phone number, and give them a working email address. This is especially irritating because they show you the authorization code on the web page after you fill all that stuff out--you don't have to use the email address to get the auth code. This leads me to believe that the primary purpose of the email address is to send promotional emails, which I loathe. I really hate giving out my email address. Anyway...

The sound is pretty good. Good enough to do the job, anyway. I would rate it 3rd-best of emulators that I've used. The best emulator I've used is the Vox Tonelab. Second-best is the POD XT. Third-best is Amplitube. However, Amplitube has a clear edge for recording--I can go back and change settings at any time. If I use the Tonelab or POD for a preamp, I have to re-record if I want to change the sound very much.

I've been using the Amplitube for a very, very challenging project. At least, it's challenging for a perfectionist like me. I've been recording a guy's parodies of classic rock songs, so I've been trying to nail the tones of AC/DC, The Kinks, Aerosmith, Roy Orbison, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and others. I'm about a third of the way through the project and so far Amplitube has given me what I need to make extremely convincing reproductions of the originals. That is, probably 98% of a random audience and 90% of guitarists would mistake it for the original until the different vocals come in.

I do spend some time tweaking presets; actually a lot of time. But that's because I'm looking for an exact, specific sound. If I were just looking for a "good" sound, many of the presets would work, at least for classic rock and blues. I tried using the Voxengo Boogex freeware tube amp emulator plug-in for a while, but couldn't really get what I was looking for out of it. I found Amplitube to be markedly superior in tone, and noticeably quieter. Of course, for the money it had better be superior.

Not surprisingly, I find that a huge part of getting the tone I want comes from (in descending order): my playing technique, which guitar I play, the setup (strings, p/u's, action height) and settings (switch position, volume & tone knob position) of the guitar.

As I said, I bought this (Amplitube SE) bundled with Mackie Tracktion 2. (It also came with numerous MDA plugins, SampleTank 2 SE, and the RM IV drum sampler.) For that price, I feel it was worth it. I wouldn't pay full price ($400) for Amplitube. I would put the value in the $100-$200 range, but I guess I'm cheap.

Note, I haven't tried Guitar Rig or any other non-freeware plug-in guitar amp emulators. The other emulators I've tried were hardware (ToneLab, POD, POD XT, CyberChamp) or freeware.

Overall, I've found Amplitube to be a useful tool for shaping tone on dry guitar tracks. If I were recording an original (non-parody, non-cover) rock guitar project, I would probably use it only as a backup to real amps. I would, in that case, use it to provide tones that I didn't have amps capable of producing. Of course, I'm assuming that I would already have a good idea of what I wanted the final arrangement to sound like. If I was still undecided on arrangement, I would record a dry track in addition to the miked cabinet so I could use Amplitube to re-amp later if necessary.

In summary: It's decent. Useful for certain things and easy to use, capable of producing good usable tones, but not worth the $320 street price. Because of the high cost for the program, I'm rating it only as a 7. If it were in the price range I feel is more appropriate ($100-200), I would rate it an 8.

I'm a guitarist/bassist with 25 years recording and gigging experience. I have lots of experience with DAWs and industry standard software such as Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic, Reason, and numerous plugins.

The Interface was okay - nothing special but not bad either.

The sounds are acceptable especially the clean ones. Obviously this is an emulation package so there are problems but overall the plugin enables reasonable emulations of classic setups. For clean tones the plugin does a great job with minimal noise.

It was a bit pricey in my opinion. But when I bought it, Guitar Rig had yet to come out so it was a logical choice for me at that time. I use Amplitube to develop demos in the studio and some of the tones make it onto the final product whereas I re-record other tracks using mics and real amps. As mentioned I like the clean tones and find that they are quite useable in a professional context much more so than the distored tones, which sound very processed and nu-metal-ish - that is fine if that is the sound you are going for but I would rather mic up a Marshall or a Boogie for the real dirt. Still Amplitube does a decent job of capturing some of these elements. In terms of performance I haven't had crashes. I use it with Pro Tools and on occasion PT will complain about buffer settings but hey this is on a single CPU laptop with a gig of RAM so I'm not complaining. When I put it on the desktop I get no problems.


I understand that the newer version has many,many more features but it has taken so very long to hit the market that I wonder if there are perhaps problems with it. Guitar Rig is already up to their second production release and the demos of that sound good and offer lots of flexibility so IK Multimedia's laziness might work against them. In the end lets keep in mind that emulation software has come a very long way since the horribly over-priced days of Amp Farm and developers are getting better all the time. So at some point in the feature I think that this stuff will be on target. But we have a way to go before I'll be scrapping my amps and plugging up to a laptop for a gig.

I've been involved in the music biz for more than 3 decades. I use a fast Windows XP computer, SONAR and several Native Instrument soft synth plug-ins in a DXi plug-in environment. I tried to use Amplitube as a plug-in to add amp simulations to my soft synths.

When I purchased Amplitube a year ago, I made a $300 mistake. It crashes so frequently that I don't use it any more. I suspect that it was never really designed for SONAR's DXi plug-in environment.

I recently purchased Native Instruments' Guitar Rig ... the price has been recently dropped to $300 ... and it is far superior to Amplitube.

I decided to stop using Amplitube, but I thought my friend might enjoy toying around with it. So I emailed Amplitube at their official support site, asking how I could transfer the Amplitube ownership license to one of my friends ... and 2 weeks later, I have heard NOTHING from Amplitube.

Good sound quality ... before it crashes.

Purchasing this software is a HUGE mistake.

Im am relitively new to PC recording however dont let that deter you form this reveiw. i just got a new Celeron D 2.6 GHZ PC with 256Mb of DDR ram (64 of that is being set as on-board 3D),so im only using this plugin with 192Mb of ram, i use it in Cubase SX and i run my Guitar into A beringer BCA2000 Via USB.

this plugin is to easy to use...i ave know idea how anyone could have problems using it. you just click om effects in a track in cubase and select "AMPLITUBE" simple, done

I couldent belive how real 95% of these settings sounded, some of the higher gain setting can have alot of back groung hiss butthat depend on were you are in a room, ie i had my TV on so i turned it off and alot of that went away, plus i have a star so it got single coils in it so im sure if you wanted to use a high gain setting with a hummbucking guitar its should eliminate alot of unwanted sound.

as i said int the beging im am only using this with 192Mb of Ram when its say on there website that it requires a minimum of 512 (as does the Beringer BCA2000) and it runs and sounds fine.
i am very lucky to have got it for free however if i had to i would gladly pay for it, its simple to use and VERY versitile.
one other thing to add is i downloaded 250 Presets of Imesh (a P2P programm similar to Kazaa) all very good and alot of them were top sounding VIP settings so if you desire have a look around the net for them (it was only about 150K).

A lot of experience. When I used it, I used it in Cubase SX under Win XP. @GHZ with 768 meg RD Ram. MOTU 2408, 308 and Mackie 824 monitors with an Event Sub.

User interface is a snap. Easy to install. Easy to get a decent sound because a bunch of precents are included that you can tweak...if you want to tweak.

It's a little thin by itself and is a tad sterile in tone. With some effects it's not bad in a mix. Presets are okay. I have a POD XT PRO which in my opinion is a lot better, but if I was on a budget, this would be a good choice. It's the best software sim. of the ones I've heard. Additional effects are crucial for making this plugin sound good. It's nice that it's all in software, but since I got the POD XT PRO I haven't used it - but I'm keeping it in my bag of tricks.

It was a birthday gift, so I guess it was worth the price. My favorite feature is the inclusion of presets - it's a time saver and a lot of plugins didn't used to come with them. It's low impact on my CPU and has never crashed.

If it's all you have it will probably be the most awesome software plugin invented, but if you've been around the block it's just middle of the road.

A lot of gear and 25+ years of experience.

Using it (when I use it) with Cubase SX and other DAW PC based Apps.

Produce demos in most genres. Multiple PC's at 2.0GHZ or better running Win XP. MOTU A/D and Mackie 824's with Event sub.

A snap to use. I I always have a high regard for software that has a decent number of presets already made. This way I can tweek or just go with it.

It's the best amp/cabinet software simulator I've heard to date, but I also own a POD XT PRO and the POD XT PRO is what I use when I record. Amplitude is average to good and sounds Okay in a mix, albiet a little thin. It does sound competitively good compared to old POD gear and it's very handy to have it in the software environment - that's definely a plus.

Still, my preference is to use the POD XT PRO - it's no hasstle at all with SPDIF.

I only paid $35.00 for it and frankly I don't use it anymore. It was useful before I got the POD PRO XT, but now I'd much rather use the POD.

It never crashed when I used it and it was pretty CPU friendly. The guy that sold it to me had just bought a POD PRO XT and I followed his lead.

i have been at it for 11 years and music too. A few problems i have had i feel have put me in a unique position amomg reviewers of this product. At this moment due to a recent robbery, i am using a dusted off 450mhz AMD k6-2 based system, #6 worth of fm801 barely full duplex soundcard, and have 128Mb ram. I was using cubase vst 5.2 public beta 7 but now had to switch to n-track studio 3.3 as win2k and the fm801 dont like each other under cubase. And to demo tracks i use amplitube in ntrack, reason for the drums via rewire and one borrowed epiphone explorer for all guitar and bass(high quality pitch shift) parts. heh if i catch the sod who nicked my stuff he's proper dead.

The interface, as in a real life amp, has its behavioural nuances which you get to know and work around and eventually come to love, it would never have a major overriding place for me in a studio but some things it does it does amazingly. i had no problems installing or registering, i think i was one of the lucky ones. And as far as finding workable sounds like i said before any real life amp has sweet spots that you learn and amplitube isnt much different.

The clean sounds can be dramatic warm bright whatever you want, and admittedly with a little help from a good EQ plugin or akai's quadcomp you can create worlds of different sounds. The driven distorted high gain sounds take a little more work but again if you tweak and tweak and maybe fill in the pieces with eq or compression you can again get awesome sounds, the gate however is utter tripe, signal drop off on muted distorted parts with gappy polyrythm parts is slow and sound a bit like the last bit of water going down the plug hole, but after all that this is my only complaint and as all but removed if your source signal is clean, mine at present is a line in with no preamp or protection from noise, but this artifact still can happen with good clean signals

Well i got it from a guy who had no clue what he had or how to use it properly, so i feel a little guilty telling you full-pricers i got it for #20 second-hand. which easily is better value for money than even guitar rig at full price. although guitar rig is on my purchase list, this plug-in will, for me have a place in my music where not much else can touch it, even if on my 450mhz pc i can only run two inserts of amplitube, even if i have to do things the long way around i will. Another reason why i like amplitube is that after losing almost all equipment(amps, guitars, rack fx), is that it lets me carry on doing what i love doing, and to a degree of quality even i can accept after having the real deal for so long. IF SOME GUY OFFERS THIS TO YOU FOR #20 #30 OR EVEN #100 THEN RIP HIS ARM OFF!!!!!!

Been playing for three years. I used version 1.3 of the Amplitube plugin along with both Cubase SX and ProTools. I play alternative and rock mostly. I have tried Amplitube on both the PC and Mac. My setup is an Mbox into Cubase SX, monitoring with headphones.

The UI is ok. If you know how to use an amp you can use the software. Installation was easy, but there is a massively long product key to enter. It comes with a bunch of presets that all pretty much suck. I was able to find a zip file with 250 user presets on the 'net. Many of those presets were better than what comes with the product.

The sound is not so great. All the clean channels sound really muddy. There is zero life in any sound you get out of this product. Even when you crank up the distortion it just sounds computerized, and not in a good way. I get better sound cranking my Mbox gain to 10 and piping the result into Cubase's compressor/limiter and a little reverb. I cannot get a really good sound out if this product. Either the sound is too muddy, or it's too noisy. The gating helps the noise, but overall I am not impressed.

Not worth the price at all. For $299 you can buy a Vox Tonelab and hook it right into your PC. You will get everything Amplitube has to offer plus an authentic tube sound and physical piece of hardware. The only good thing I can say about this product is it's fun for a while to play with the controls and try and get a good sound. After a while, everything just sounded the same to me and I sold it.

I've been playing guitar since 1968. My main ax is a Roland-ready Fender Strat updated with noiseless pickups and locking tuners. I just purchsed Amplitube Live (which includes Amplitube LE). I also use mostly Cubase SX but also have Sonar 3. I use the OEM Sonitus effects plugins from Sonar in Cubase. I particularly like the vintage compressor and reverb models.

Within those applications, I use some software sampling synthesizers: e.g. Kontakt and EWQL Orchestra (Silver) which I love, but find some of the voices that came with an OEM version of Sampletank perfect for blending with guitar.

I have a 2.4GHz P4 Shuttle with 800MHz FSB, 1G RAM, and 200GB 7200RPM hard drive, & Win XP home. Sony stereo headset and/or a $50 car extension speaker that makes a great compact stereo stage monitor. I'm planning to replace that with some in-ear monitors (even MORE compact).

The interface is easy to understand and operate, like a real amp.

Copy protection is always a headache. I don't like to go online with my DAW because a virus caused an extreme rebuild. Nearly all new software requires a big-brother connection to enable. I wish they'd figure out some way to prevent theft of their products without exposing my investment to crippling viruses. The dongle that Cubase requires isn't a very good solution either. I had to have mine replaced as it wasn't very durable.

I don't know about automation, but I've very disapointed in the LIVE MIDI implementation. I bought a MIDI footcontroller (Art Ultrafoot) so I could instantly switch from one sound to another, trading in a floor full of stomp boxes because it was impractical to do a tap dance to change settings. Amplitube LIVE is WORSE as it requires you to SEQUENCE through the list of patches until you find the one you're looking for. i.e., instead of pushing 4 or 5 stompbox switches, you have to hit the up or down switch 100 or so times! I don't understand why they made such an inane compromise. I understand that DSound has a plug-in host that fixes that, but I'm not certain.

Sounds are very nice.
I'll probably upgrade someday to get the rest of the models.

I wish they labled them for the amps they modelled though. Lots of amps can have clean, lead, or crunch sounds. These lables tell me nothing.

It was worth what I paid, just because I want to make my rig more portable. If you've played as long as I have, you love to play but despise the logistical nightmare of getting a rack from here to there.

Guitar Rig is more flexible, but I only liked a few of their demo patches. Also, I didn't want to have to kludge in their pedal dongle into my setup, opting for a pure software implementation.

What I don't like about it is the lack of flexibility. You cannot architect a patch like you can with TC Works FX Machine.

Lack of MIDI program change mapping is a market killer, IMHO. If DSound allows me to get around this, I'll be happy. If not, I'll be _sort of_ sorry I bought it. It still has usefulness in the studio, because you don't need to change patches fast when you punch in, but this kludgy feature really limits consideration as a serious LIVE application.

I am a working producer living in LA. I have a very diverse client list that requires my understanding of various software and hardware devices. To have tools that I can use to accomidate my clients wishes is important to me. My studio like so many other users out there consist of 2 systems. 1. Pro Tools HD2 Accel, Pro Tools|HDpack Version 6, Mac G5 Dual 1.8GHz PowerPC G5,2gigs of ram, Wave Platinum Bundle, T-Racks Mastering suite and tons of outboard gear. 2. PC Intel 2.4Ghz pentium, 1gig of ram, Cubase 3, Hammerfall Digi9636,

My main instrument is guitar and piano, I have been playing since I was 10 I am now 38.
I too have a lot of pedal effects, stomp boxes, and multi-effects boxes for my guitar set up.

As a producer it is important to me to work quickly and efficiently, so picking any application, ease of use is number #1. I had no problem installing Amplitube on my PC, went to the website and registered my copy, so I would not get that annoying sound when the product is in demo mode. While at the website I downloaded some user presets. Once installed I launched the plug-in and started to rock. Everything I know as a guitar player was right in front of me. My amp selections, my cabinet selections, my pedal effect, and so much more. It was a pleasure work with an application that spoke to me, the guitar player.

Now being the kind of guy I am, tone is everything. So I was very excited to hear what this puppy sounded like. Much to my surprise I was blown away! For software to sound this real was a pleasure. So many times I have played software for the GUITAR PLAYER, only to be disappointed. I was most impressed by the accuracy of the VIP presets, what a time saver.

Overall I think what I paid was a steal, considering what I would have had to pay if it were all hardware. The most important thing for me is speed and accuracy of a product. This was a winner for me and I will use this on many tracks to come, not just guitar, but drums and vocals as well.

I am a long time user of PC recording software. First with Cakewalk followed by Emagic Logic and now using Cubase. In addition to the sequencer programs I also use Cool Edit Pro and a variety of VST instruments. My computer has a 2.2G processor with 512M of ram. I have used an assortment on outboard guitar processors such as POD, PODxt, GT-6, Adrenalinn II, J-Station and Guitar Port. I use a set of 12-inch biamped studio monitors and also a set of smaller Yamaha monitors to play through.

I was intrigued by the potential of Amplitude as a VST processor. I had difficulty with the installation in that the first several times I tried to install the program, it would quit automatically after a very short time. I also noticed a pulsating noise problem in the output when the program was launched. Finally, I got the 'unwanted'
fatal error message indicating the program would shut down followed by a blue screen. I had to restore my computer to a previous date to correct the problem. I never did get it to work correctly.

The very short time when I had the program up and running and could record and listen, I was less than impressed. I don't think the sounds justify the cost and the hassle. I believe the external processors are far better sounding and a better value. The noise was very irritating.

I know that some people have had good luck with this plugin, but I could not recommend it to anyone. There are way better processors out there for much less money without the problems. Plus, if this thing doesn't work out for you - there are no returns for a refund.

I've been playing guitar for the better part of the past 4 years. I use Amplitube in conjunction with Cubase SX on an Athlon 1700+ with 512 meg of RAM, using an Audigy 2 ZS soundcard. That runs out to a fairly primitive set of computer speakers.

IK attempted to model a generic amp interface with the look of Amplitube. Whilst it is a rather primitive design - especially in comparison to NI's Guitar Rig - it is rather straight-forward for the average guitarist. It does its job.

The actual sonic aspect requires alot of tweaking to get solid tones. You'll spend alot of time with the post-EQ and the different settings, as the original patches aren't very well programmed for use in a mix. Some alright jamming tones to start with, but nothing overly solid.

I just DI my guitar into the PC, with no preamp and obviously with my soundcard, that inherently leaves alot to be desired as far as sonic richness goes. Amplitube itself can give relatively convincing high-gain sounds that can be used in a recorded mix. It certainly doesn't rival the outboard processors like the PODxt, but it certainly is cheaper.

The problem is that Amplitube requires a good home set-up to work well in conjunction with. To fullfill its potential you need a professional-grade soundcard, preamp and decently fast PC, especially if recording multi-track.

Well, firstly, it isn't worth the retail price. I would save the cash and go for something like a PODxt, which gives a better array of sounds.

Right now, however, it is the best software amp module to use for high-gain 'metal' sounds. Whilst modules like NI's Guitar Rig are almost superior in every way, Amplitube still remains the best for tones with balls.

I have been playing music in one form or another for over 20 years, my primary instruments being guitar and bass and some occasional vocal work. I have also been working professionally as a producer and engineer for the past 10 of those years. I have numerous systems including Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools LE, Logic Pro, and Digital Performer. All my systems run on Mac OS X 10.3.5 on G4 towers and one G4 I Book. All systems also have atleast 768 MB of RAM. I work on a wide range of music: rock, country, R&B, contemporary christian, and vocal performance.

Amplitube has to be one of the coolest, easiest to use guitar amplifier plug-ins on the market. Whether I'm tracking directly to hard disk with the plug-in or "re-amping" the guitar track in a mix, it never fails to work without any problems.

Sounds great. A cool trick is to use it on a DI guitar track in conjunction with the original amplified track. Obviously no plug-in will ever sound as big as a well recorded half stack, but it's a fast and efficient way to to thicken up a guitar heavy mix. The presets also sound great, if there's a particular sound your looking for right off the bat, pull up a preset tweak it a little bit, and away you go.

It's definantly worth the money. In a mix situation, a hardware unit is only good for one track whereas the Amplitube plug-in can be used simultaneously on as many tracks as you want. That to me is a obvious advantage. As a native plug-in, it isn't a CPU hog and I have never crashed a system using it-mine or anyone else's. (for that matter, I have never had any problems using it on a M-Audio or MOTU interface either)

I've been a guitarist for about 30 years. I tried to use the Amplitube version for MAC OS-X 10.3. I'm using it on my I-Book, a G-4 with 512mb Ram. I have an M-Audio 410 Firewire connected to my I-Book, which is heard through a set of Bose computer speakers. This is my "Notepad" rig.

It crashed my MAC. How hard is that? It is a useless CD-ROM I use as a coaster.

I have not had the opportunity to hear it, since it immediately terminates when I attempt to start it up. This happens on my I-Book, and my B&W G3/4 with 1GB Ram.

Take your cash and get a Pod XT. That is worth twice the price. Like I said -- I now own an expensive, but quite durable, coaster on which I set my Diet Coke Cans...

I've been playing guitar for 15 years or so. I've used tube and solid state amps of all kinds. Currently I use a AMD Athlon XP 2100 with 512mb RAM and a firewire 410.

The user interface is very intuitive because it looks like a guitar amp. The cabinet controls great, giving you a lot of cool control. Overall, great easy to use interface.

Sound qaulity is great. With a good selection of realistic sounding presets that are a good starting place.

The stompboxes are excellent as well.

The cost if well worth it for the sounds that I get . It is a great tool , recording miked cabinets is now a not needed with Amplitbe. I can get really great sounds from it.

I've been using Amplitube (DX version) in my personal recording studio, with Cakewalk's SONAR 3 as my sequencing software on a very powerful Windows XP box.

I paid more than $300 U.S. for this software, and I never use it! Why? Because it crashes my entire computer when I attempt to change patches while SONAR 3 is running!

In the modern Windows XP environment, it takes a really, really badly-behaved computer program to crash the entire computer.

Sound quality is good ... it's too bad I can't rely on this software.

Not worth the price. Perhaps it only crashes on PC platforms.

I've been playing guitar and bass for about 20 years or so. I've used tube and solid state amps of all kinds. Currently I use a p4 1.7ghz Dell with 512mb RAM and a m-audio delta 66.

The user interface is somewhat intuitive because the UI looks like a guitar amp. The menus are bad because you constantly have to scroll around to find settings. The cabinet controls are limited. Overall, not nearly as intuitive as the Native Instruments Guitar Rig (which is really very cool!).

The sound is definitely better than many free VST amp plugins (but not by much when you spend some time with EQ) I did find myself tweaking a lot but that's me.

Overall its a decent product but the retail price of $399 is very steep. If you're looking for a really excellent amp simulator, try a POD or the new Native Instruments Guitar Rig (free 30 day demo available). The NI product is more intuitive and has some really incredible sounds - the clean tube settings are really very well done. NI Distortion is excellent also.

Trying for many years to obtain a good direct recording sound, with very little success (using a ADA Microcab, Behringer V-AMP 2). I am looking for a good Dual Rectifier kind of sound, since clean sounds are rather easy to create. I'm using a P4 3GHz with a M-Audio Delta 44 and Nuendo 2.

I really hate the fact that we have to hold down the menu button to navigate in them. Otherwise, nothing really complicated.

The software by itself sounds really bad. Distorded sounds are pretty useless. The cleans are not too bad. Why the high score then? I setup Amplitube in "tube clean" mode, ie no gain. Then, I plug my guitar into my old Boss Metal Zone, then to my soundcard. Play a little bit with an EQ, add some reverb (with a good plugin). The result was amazing! The nicest cabinet simulator that I've heard! Better that my V-AMP 2 (which is not bad BTW). I finally have a realistic sound, without being too harsh and gritty. I was very impressed for a software that seems to be a total waste at first. It is part of my recording setup now, and it puts my V-AMP to rest. Also, the various cabinet models sound more realistic than the ones on the V-AMP 2, less exagerated, more usable.

I don't care about the Amplitube effects (chorus, reverb, etc) since I have plugins that are much better for that purpose.

Give it a try, put your favorite distorion box before Amplitube!

Never been a pro, but have played around many years. Very computer literate.

Clumsy and primitive as far as user interfaces go.

Sounds okay, not spectacular.

Version is Amplitube LE that came with Guitar Tracks Pro 3. Amplitube is an okay product, but not great. The biggest warning I have for you is their customer service. NOT user friendly. Their registration was a mjor pain. And when I decided to use SONAR sell Guitar Tracks Pro 3, the Amplitube poeple would not allow the license to be transfered!!! Do not buy from this company. They comlete fail in being custoemr proactive. Must have gone to the Bill Gates school of business.

I use this with Cubase SX on an Athlon 64 3.2Ghz computer with 1 gig memory. M-Audio Omni Studio and Delta 66 soundcard....

Very easy to use. If you play guitar....you should understand everything here!

This program is good for bass or acoustic guitar....I use it for bass primarily. but acoustics with my piezo pickup sound great as well....BUT, the metal and distortions are slim...I also have a Behringer V-Amp Pro and I recommend that over Amplitube for raw overdrive!

Like I said....good to add to bass during recording, and acoustics too. But save your CPU for other things if you have something else like I do...It is c a good tool to have, but don't spend a fortune on it....Buy an outboard modeler instead....

I have played guitar for 17 years. I use tube amps.
I bought the amplitube 2 in Ebay.

Very easy.

Nothing sound real if it is not real.
Amplitube is a toy. If you need change a little a sound of guitar or bass , amplitube is perfect, but doesn't sound real. It doesn't sound well, in fact.
It is a pluging. Nothing else.
The best plugin for guitar ans bass sounds is the Nigel of UAD-1.

I've been playing guitar for 19 years. I have an LP Custom Plus, a Fender Strat, and a Carvin C-66. I play rock & blues primarily. I use Amplitube with Cubase 5.1 on a G4 Mac under OS 9.1.something. Though I have studio monitors I prefer using headphones for playback

Very straight forward in use. Copy protection (though understandable) is a pain in the ass! There needs to be an easier way to keep thieves at bay! When my computer needs upgrading I won't be taking Amplitube with me. My PODxt sounds better and doen't have copy protection.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? That's very subjective but I found it easy to dial in clean and slightly dirty sounds. Ball-breaker Marshall stack tones were more difficult!

I found Amplitube to sound better than most amp modelers (except the PODxt) but I always end up tweaking the presets. It's a matter of taste!;-) As previously mentioned, the mids are highlighted which is fine when working with a mix but is somewhat lacking when the guitar is the only instrument in the mix! But, that's where the EQ comes in!

As complex as a saturated tube sound is it may be some time before any digital modeler will capture it's sound convincingly, if ever.

With it's pain-in-the-ass copy protection guarding against illegal usage, I feel this product is over priced by about $100! While it's a decent unit, it's not THAT good.

On the other hand, one of my favorite features is the ability to change amp models AFTER the original signal has been recorded. Yes, I can do that with my PODxt, but not on an airplane!

If I could have only one (PODxt or Amplitube) I'd choose the PODxt hand down!

I've been playing guitar for 12 years, and my main electric guitar is a Fender Strat Ultra.

For a long time, I wasn't interested in vintage sound, and I was rather looking for textures, sounds that were surprising, fun to play and fun to hear, because I'm primarily a composer/arranger who plays guitars.

I've owned a valvestate 8080 for 7 years, and used it without knowing what I was dealing with, without knowing how to get to the sound I had in mind, and discovering other sounds. I used numerous multiFX stuffs from digitech, roland and boss with or without this amp. Those multiFX were nice for surprising sound, but definitely far from being vintage or warm and subtle. Then I got around the first POD from Line 6. At that time, my ears were still far away from being skilled at detecting the "tube authenticity". But the POD got me interested in the topic.

Just before the POD, I had bought a Mesa Boogie Formula Pre, and this taught me a lesson. The unit was a marvel for clean sounds just as much as its distortion was horrible. I slowly began to realize what was brought by the use of tubes, but the concept was still very vague.

I got into the POD Pro which sounded better than the first POD, and had great connectivity features for my homestudio. But I was hoping Line 6 would release a plug-in for VST/DX platforms, like their ampfarm plugin for Pro-Tool.

The POD Pro was a very nice unit, very versatile, but there was a lot of things I was unable to achieve ; sounds I had found by micing my valvestate with a Beta 58 or a AT4033 were impossible to get with it. The POD Pro, just like the POD 2, always gave a very processed sound with limited dynamics and an emphasis in the medium frequencies, and often in the low mids. The more time passes, the more I regretted having sold my amp and my Mesa Boogie, but well it was ok.

Then Amplitube came out. Not so long after Line 6 released the POD XT. I have both.

Amplitube is very easy to use. There are not many amps and cabs to play with. I believe AmpFarm has more amps and cabs, than amplitube, but they're both far behind the PODs.

Amplitube partly compensate for the missing amps and cabs by the ability to choose between two mics and between two placements for them. It's not as interesting as having more cabs and amps, but it does bring more possible sounds and textures, although a bit too subtle sometimes. The POD XT in comparison is superior : it has 4 very different mics (actually 2 + 1 with 2 variations), and the distance can be defined on a scale of 1 to 100. The two mics from Amplitube aren't as different and you can only place them "close" or "far".

The interface is divided in three pages : The amps, cabs and mics page, the stomp FX (Wah, Delay, Flanger, Chorus, etc) that are processed "before the amp", and the digital FX (Parametric EQ, Reverb and Delay) that are processed "after the amp". You can easily automate them in your sequencer. I often draw a Wah line in Cubase SX, and it works very well. I only wish the wah would sound "fuller".

The interface is a bit dull for my tastes, a bit too grey. Amp Farm is beautiful in comparison : each amp brings its own design on screen, based on the actual design of the real thing it's imitating.

This is something the users of the POD XT can have too now, when using Line 6 Guitarport software to edit their patches ; it's a beauty and very easy to use.

The Copy protection of Amplitube is a pain, and if I had known about it, I wouldn't have bought the plugin !

Amplitube is rather versatile and has some nice simulations.
But it has most of the weaknesses and strengths of the POD 2 or POD Pro :
- Dynamic is weak, far from the subtle compression of a real tube amp.
- The sound is always emphasizing the mids, giving to every patch the same overall signature.

These were the two main weaknesses of the former PODs, and Amplitube has them, but not as badly. It's more defined, it has more highs and more dynamics.

But these weaknesses can be considered as a strength for some users ; why ? Because the frequencies emphasized are usually the ones that are often left to be heard in a mix. Also, the flat dynamic response makes your guitar easier to blend in your mix, and makes the use of a compressor almost useless.

So, Amplitube can work good for the wall of guitars type of sound, or for some guitars lost in other sounds. But it can be a bit too limited for songs in need of a raw and full guitar sound, like a blues trio mood. It can do the work, depending on what sound you're after, but it's definitely not able to cover all situations.

In this regard, The POD XT is far superior : the feeling you get when playing through it is really closer to the feeling you get when playing through tube amps. Also, a wider range of frequencies is used, depending on the type cabs and mics (4) you choose, and I've been able to get really close to the kind of full sound I had when micing my valvestate. I've been unable to do the same with Amplitube, even worse with the older PODs, no matter how hard I tried, because of the lack of definitions, lack of dynamic and the theft of some high and low frequencies.

Overall, Amplitube is a very nice tool and is the first serious amp simulation for VST applications. That's why I got into it so fast ; this was something I had dreamt of and it was the first to be convincing.

Unfortunately, I've also become very critical and demanding in terms of tone, and only the POD XT simulations can respond as of today.

I almost regretted having bought amplitube now that I have the POD XT, I think it's a bit too expensive for what you can get out of it. But it has no real competitors (Warp is extremely limited, and Revalver is nice for sound design but not for Amp simulation). And it's very convenient to have this kind of tool as a plugin. I use it for songs that are not based on electric guitars, but require a warm tube sound for them. Being able to tweak your sound after you've recorded your part is great, being able to save your settings with your song is great. Doing all this with the POD XT is possible, but far less convenient than with Amplitube.

Also I use Amplitube on other instruments to dirty them up a bit and it does it very nicely.

To sum up, it's the best and the most useable guitar amp simulation plug-in available for VST sequencers, at the time I write this review. But it could be far better. It's better than the first generation of PODs in terms of sound quality, but not as good and versatile as a POD XT.

I still wish Line 6 would release some kind of POD XT VST/DX Plugin !

I've been involved in computer music for about two decades. I'm using Amplitube in SONAR version 3, on a Pentium 4.

This is yet another product that sells to the Windows market but refuses to adhere to accepted Windows conventions.

About a third of the interface contains a graphic of amplifier tubes that is totally useless, it just takes up space. There should be an option to hide that graphic, thus reducing the required screen size.

The interface knobs are quite intuitive, as they resemble a real guitar amp.

The menu to select presets is really clumsy, they don't stick like normal Windows menus. Also, the screen doesn't update well, so you're often left with manu fragments covering some Amplitube knobs.

Automation is NOT SUPPORTED in SONAR, although it is apparently fully supported in ProTools and somewhat supported in Cubase. This is a MAJOR fault.

Manual is OK. I found the marketing demo (from Amplitube website) more informative than the manual.

There is no bypass switch. There is no default preset that bypasses Amplitube, I had to make one myself. There is no way to compare presets while you're editing them.

I emailed customer support a month ago, and haven't heard anything back.

Sound quality is great, it really does sound quite like a guitar amplifier. Presets are useful. CPU usage is OK.

Overall: Good sound, lots of irritating and missing things from the interface, non-existent customer support, and no MIDI automation in SONAR DX. This will be a stellar product if the vendor gave us a serious upgrade.

I play electric guitar since 6 year ago.
I use cubase sx `s software to work. Well , i tell you that i try to make music similar to "SUEDE, PLACEBO, COLDPLAY ", something like that.
I work with a pc pentium 4 , windows xp.
the primary listening equipment is, soundcard to headphones.

I work with "mark of the unicorn 2408 mkII" interface and is so cool, i don`t have any problem.

I've been making music for over 15 years and have been an avid electronic musician since the mid 80's and started off using Windows 3.0 and a Gravis Ultrasound audio card which was upgradable to 1 meg of sample memory (the first sample based wavetable audio card on the market at the time with 16 bit playback and 8 bit recording) ;-) ahh those were the days.. since then I've been an avid user of soft synths and sequencers and have pretty much used everything thats on the market today..

This Review is for the new Amplitube VST/Protools guitar amp emulator plugin by IK Multmedia. www.amplitube.com I use the windows version with Cubase VST/32 5.1. This plugin was developed to emulate a guitar amplifier, much like the Line 6 pod, xt or Behringer v-amp or Digitech Genesis. It's entirely software based though. No hardware required except for the low latency ASIO sound card that you bring along. You'll also need to own either Protools or any modern day VST capable sequencer software package like my favorite Cubase VST/32 It's also possible to use programs like SonicFoundry Soundforge if you have a program that will bridge the VST to the directX. The Cakewalk company who makes products like Sonar, and Guitar Track Pro makes something called, Cakewalk VST Adapter which will let you use software that can accept DirectX plugins, accept a VST plugin like Amplitube. I've never tried it though. I mention this, because a lot of guitar players don't want to mess around with complicated Sequencers which have their own learning curve. And finally, I believe that the people who make Amplitube also have a program that will let you use Amplitube as a stand alone application. I read it about on their website and I think it's free once you've purchased amplitube. It's amazing how far software has come in just the last couple of years..

It's very easy to use. It installs easy as pie too. It does have some heavy duty copy protection that requires you to register online and gain a special password unlock key based on your own computers identity. this means that you can only install it on one pc at a time and if you reinstall windows or change to a new pc, you will have to contact IK Multimedia and deal with them to figure it out. I'm not sure if they will simply provide you with a new unlock code.. it may require additional fee's. Piracy is a serious problem for these companies now-a-days and if you consider that you can essentially emulate a Line6 Pod or XT with software, everyone is going to want one for free. I believe they have a faq on their website which will explain everything about registration. You should probably read it before you take the $399 plunge.

As for sound, it simply rocks. I feel it's as good as the Pod 2, Pod Pro, Pod XT, etc. Much better sounding than the Behringer V-Amp or the Digitech Genesis (or GenEx) units. It doesn't have as many amps to select from as a pod 2 or pod xt, but the ones that are provided sound as good as the best ones you'll find in those units. It comes with some effects pedals, (chorus, flanger, wah, distortion box, etc.) and they all sound pretty good.. funny enough, the wah sounds just as bad as the pod 2 or pod xt. None of these modeled wah effects ever sound good.

It also comes with a post effects channel which has digital delay and post eq, etc. This really makes for any sound you can imagine. Also as far as the amps go, you can individually select the wattage of the amp, the cabinets, the pre-amps. This makes up easly for not having as many modeled amps as some of the hardware amp emulators.. and it might actually provide more sounds. I'm pretty happy with what I can come up with.. you also get the standard volume and tone and presence controls that you find on a real amp or with a Line 6 pod, etc. And these are really well modeled.. very rich and dynamic.. they sound nicer than the pod tone controls..

Also, you record your tracks unprocessed, which allows you to go back and change the plugin settings for an entirely new sound. Once you like the sound, you set it to hard disk for final mastering. this is really handy in case the guitar you recorded has too much treble, or you want it to sound less distorted or whatever.. you can't do that with a pod xt.

You can also log on to the Amplitube website and download new patches that other people have created. I've never tried this though.

To sum it up, it sounds incredible. And if you're thinking that it's hard to imagine software working as well as a Line 6 Pod, (trust me, I felt the same way), then simply go to www.amplitube.com and download the demo.. It's easy to get a fat tube amp sound or even a heavy metal sound. It sounds fantastic.

You will however need to get a low latency sound card to get real time processing of the tone. Otherwise, with an ordinary sound card, you will hear a small delay from the time you hit a note and the time you hear the tone. The software comes with it's own ASIO drivers that you can use in case you don't have any.. but if your sound card sucks, and you try to get low latency it will give a weird broken up digital sound that will hurt your head.. I purchased a Creative Labs Audigy 2 card (don't use the audigy 1 since the latency isn't as well developed. The audigy 2 barebones non-retail un-boxed vrsion costs $70 and gets 2ms or less latency with it's ASIO drivers. Thats plenty for nice real time processing. You'll also need at least 1.2gig cpu and at least 190 megs of ram for the plugin to work correctly. (who doesn't have that these days?).

I'm very happy with this vst plugin and see it as the future of guitar recording. I can almost see Line 6 freaking out about now! Also, this is only version 1 and it allready kicks the pod xt's ass! It can only get better from here! You can download a demo from www.amplitube.com and also read cool reviews from various magazines... an NO I don't work for these guys.. it really does sound this good..

The price tag of $399, puts it in the same price range as the Pod XT. It sounds every bit as good as the pod xt or pod 2 but you have the advantage of it being software. You can use a low latency laptop to play it live.. but it's really for the studio.. it saves you a big headache in that regards..

Also IK Multimedia make a big stink about having a proper input into your sound card.. they say you need to use a mixer or something that provides the same impedance (hi-z) to get the correct sound levels and good tone.. i just plug my guitar right into the line-in of the audigy 2 and it sounds just fine.. you may want to read the website to see what they mean exactly.. maybe I could get a better tone by inputing into a mixer first.. i'll give it a try soon and see if it sounds even better..